Pacov's place to enjoy the show.

I've locked/archived this thread/blog and have started a new discussion over here:  http://forums.demigodthegame.com/454943/

Please join me if you like.

 

 

 


 

 

Am I streaming


 

 

Well, I started a thread  back in August (https://forums.joeuser.com/411269/) that's seen a lot of activity and actually had quite a few good bits of information for new and old players alike.  I figure it's time to start a new thread and perhaps keep the OP up-to-date with useful information, etc.  Feel free to use this post for any LoL discussion, etc.

Super fast background:  I played a lot of Demigod as pacov/cheesuscrust.  Back in August 2011 or so, I started getting heavily involved in LoL and folks have been kind enough to chime in with tips and links to various sites that have been quite useful to me.  In addition, I've been able to keep up with folks that I've played Demigod with in the past and meet some new folks that play LoL and frequent these message boards. 

Here's some of the things I've learned in the previous thread:

 New Player tips

  • Play the tutorial.
  • Consider picking up the starter bundle.  It's 530 RP (that's about $4).  You get 8 champs unlocked, a 4 win IP boost and a 10 win XP boost.  It's a pretty good deal (used it recently on an alt account).  You can find it in the game store under bundles.
  • Riot gives you 400 RP as soon as you hit level 5.  It's enough to buy some skins, a boost, or a cheap character. 
  • Learn to last hit!  Last hitting is simply landing the last hit on creeps.  If you last hit, you get gold for that kill.  The number of creeps you have killed is tracked in a value called CS.  You can see this number in the top right hand corner of the ui or by pressing tab.  Here's a really simple tutorial re: last hitting if you are brand new - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LheiRB76x5g
  • Read some guides on any character you want to try out.  The recommended builds (what you see when you go to a shop) are not optimal.  The guides include item suggestions and skill orders.  These are very useful in learning decent ways to build characters
  • Use the rune combiner to get level 3 runes prior to level 20 if you like.  You will need 375 IP.  Buy any tier 1 rune that costs 15 IP.  You need to purchase 25 of these.  Click on your rune page.  In the bottom right hand corner there is a button called the Rune Combiner.  If you place 5 runes in there, you can get a random rune that is 1 tier higher (eg if you have 5 tier 1 runes, you will get 1 random tier 2 rune.  Anyway, the math works out such that you spend 375 IP ( buy 25 tier 1 15 IP runes) and you get 1 completely random tier 3 rune.  Some of the quintessences are 2k IP, so if you luck out and get one of those, you just won the lottery.  You can always keep the random tier 2 rune if you end up with something good and don't want to trade it out yet.
  • Consider setting aside IP for tier 3 runes (available at level 20 and above).  You can't purchase them with real money - only IP.  Keep that in mind.

Great site I visit every day for LoL related news - http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends

pacov's misc info

Here's a guide I made

pacov's Guide to Improving at League of Legends and Moving Up in Elo

k - so I'm just going to put down some of my thoughts.  I'm not amazing at this game, but I do certain things that improve my odds of winning in ranked and so far its panning out just fine (bronze 5 to gold 5 in about a month or so).  We all have varied skill levels, so some of this might be useful and some not.  Caveat complete.

Prerequisite- you need to know how to play every single role.  You don't have to be a god at every single role (more power to you if you are - I'm certainly not).  You need to be able to play at a serviceable level in every single role and excel at least at 1 role (preferably 2).  In my case, I'm good at support and adc.  I'm not great, but have serviceable mids and jungles and so so tops.  Knowing what you are good at and bad at is very important.  If you don't know, I can probably tell you - but you really should know...  Anyway, you need to have enough champs to make solid picks in any role and you need to be able to cover any role if it comes down to it.  I'll talk about how to get better at specific roles in a bit.

Champ select advice - Don't be the "fill" guy unless you really feel like you are awesome in all roles.  Call your preferred role immediately when you hit the lobby.  Say "adc pref."  Do this as soon as you hit the lobby.  Some people believe that if you call a role you magically get it.  This is stupid, but if you call something out, folks will often accomodate your request.  If you are feeling wishy washy for whatever reason, call out multiple roles in order of what you want to play - "adc/mid pref."  In my experience, you generally do not want to call support.  It's a very important role, but you want to be in a position to carry every single game if possible.  If you aren't calling out a role, you are hoping that other players can carry you.  If you are hoping that folks will carry you, you don't deserve to win.  You need to know your best roles and you absolutely should request them.

Solo or duo in ranked? - Well, my 1st thought here is that you should solo.  If you solo, you have to rely on yourself.  IMO - its a much bigger test of skill to play solo and win than to duo.  Do you want someone to carry you or do you really want to know that you are actually good?  That said, provided you have the right duo partner, you can increase your odds of winning quite a bit.  The simple math is that instead of having 4 teammates as unknown quantities, you only have 3.  If you have a good duo teammate, you know what you can expect.  When you duo, you get the most bang for your buck by having complimentary roles.  Support/adc is good; jungle/mid also works.  Even if you don't have direct symmetry in roles, if you are an amazing mid and I'm an amazing adc, our odds go up quite a bit if we both get those roles.  Our odds go way down if we can't get those roles and are forced to play out of positions that we are weaker.  For example, Bryff is a good mid.  If he duo's up with me, the only way he will get to play that role is for me to call mid, take it myself, and then put myself into a position like support where I can't carry out of (I'm always 1st pick, Bryff is always last pick when we duo)... that and I have to show the mid I'm picking at the start which means Bryff gets hard countered.  In short, we can expect that we will be a disadvantage when duo queuing.  Now, if Bryff queued up with someone at a lower elo than himself that was solid, he'd likely be 1st pick and be able to get mid and have a better chance of carrying the game.  Anyway, you need to keep in mind where you end up in pick order when duoing if you aren't looking to go adc/support.  If you want that, you can usually get it. 

How do you get better in roles that you are not good at? - Well, here's what I do.  And this is really what I do on a regular basis.  I think about what I'm good at and what I'm not good at.  For instance, I realized that I don't play any hyper carry ads.  So, I read up on hyper carries like vayne and kog maw.  I look for guides on how to build them (most adcs are the same btw ), I look for vids on how people play them (eg how do I all in with a specific champ - is there a combo - when do I all in - what's the best way for me to burst - how should I behave in lane with this champ).  Then, I fire up a custom game and try out the mechanics of whatever champ vs AI.  Usually I learn a few tricks during that custom on how to position myself, etc.  Then, I'm off to normal games where I'll request the role or character I'm trying out.  Now, people still report your for being awful in normals, but it really is where you need to try out characters to see if you are any good or not as the bots are useless for proving your skill level to yourself.  So, fire up that normal and ask to play a role (again - after you've tried out the champ against bots).  If you don't know anyone you are with and you are quite awful, I suggest muting everyone at the start of the game.  Then, do your best.  Continue with this until you feel like you have a serviceable skill level in whatever role.  And keep in mind what you need to work on.  For me, I noticed I didn't really have alot of mids for ranked, so I started practicing some with gragas against and karth.  That way, I'll be able to get the job done if I need to play mid.  The next thing I need to do is put more time into being better top lane. Again, because while I prefer adc/support, I might need to play top for the team.  So, best to be ready for it.  Put your time in and practice roles. 

One last thought - there are certain things you can generally expect in ranked.  1 - if you are 1st pick, you generally can call whatever you want.  Common knowledge, I'm sure - but I'll add - CALL WHATEVER YOU WANT.  2 - if you duo queue, you generally can lock down both adc and support.  It works best if your adc is 1st pick, ofc.  I've bumped into like 10 random dedicated supports in all of my games of LoL.  People generally aren't going to call support. So, if you are 1st pick and duo'd, just call adc and then your duo partner can almost always get support.

 

Lol King profiles for ranked tracking

I'm not going to update this regularly, so just consider it a snapshot (I'll add a date when I update them).  Anyway, I enjoy seeing folks progress through ranked and keeping tabs on that sort of thing from time to time. 

Snapshot updated 05/28/2014

 Character guides

Mid Ziggs by cow - http://www.lolking.net/guides/7906

Comments (Page 282)
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on Sep 19, 2013

That was my roommate snipersbane

on Sep 20, 2013

Stupid Comcast - I'm back to where if I plug my modem directly into the wall, everything is great.  But if I plug into the splitter, everything is laggy.  I guess its not too bad since it isn't too hard to hook up the TV after using the internet for a bit, but it is still a pain (especially since it takes like an hour for the channel guide to load).

It takes so long to actually get an appointment.  They had better actually show this time.

on Sep 20, 2013

Karl, are those the splitters that cost $7.99 at Radio Shack?  Give me your address, I'll send you one of the ones I have in my junk drawer.

on Sep 20, 2013

I had a problem like karl says he's having before.  I don't think it was anywhere near to the same degee, but there was a significant change in performance when I'd have a splitter in front of the connection to my cable modem.  If comcast didn't provide the splitter for you directly, get a newer, better one.  It actually makes a difference.  In another house I lived in some time back, I had to make the cable company come out and rewire the house so I'd have the best possible connection.  last, if you have any option to change providers, do it.  You'll get fresh cable run and that should sort you. 

on Sep 20, 2013

Comcast did provide the splitter.  I actually suspect that the problem is with the building wiring and that the splitter is just making it worse.  Thats why I want them to come out and take a look at it instead of me just flipping in a new splitter.  I'll probably just try a new splitter over the weekend to see what that does, but I do think that there are wiring issues as well.

on Sep 20, 2013

If comcast provided the splitter, then its probably good.  I can't speak for their practices specifically, but in my experience, any cable company that I've had wire up my house in the past 5 years provided their own splitters and they were good quality... and run completely new cable (eg not reusing what was already there.. even though that would be cheaper and more efficient for them).  I suppose trying another one is worth a shot, but its likely shit wiring.  I'd be as adamant as you can about getting them to run new cable.  Do you have any way to quickly prove the connectivity problems on the fly?  It's likely a bad example, but for instance, if you ran speed test with and without the splitter?  I'd wager you'd have the same rating for both with that, though.  I'm actually not sure what you can do, but if you can find a way to show that the problem is fixed outside of having lag in a game, that would be helpful I'm sure. 

on Sep 20, 2013

This isn't just an in game problem.  With the splitter, my entire connection is all messed up.  Webpages load more slowly (sometimes barely at all), and I can't stream videos very smoothly (sometimes not at all).  Without the splitter, everything is fine.

on Sep 20, 2013

Hey - I just picked up the metro bundle on amazon.  I already own metro 2033 - does anyone want the code?  I shall sell it for the excitingly low price of $2.00 to anyone that gives a rip.  PM me if you'd like and you can make a pay pal payment.  Then I will go out and buy packs of gum, because I'm ballin. 

Code should activate on steam (the other codes in the metro pack did anyway). 

on Sep 22, 2013

I really want to do a video break down of our last 2 ranked 5's games.  I'll see if I can do that.  The short, blunt version, is that we had some weak play in bot lane in game 1.  Game 2 was wrecked by 1-2 people not going sticking with shot calling.  Game 1 I had some mistakes and nades had some weak play in bot (pointlessly free first blood (he had flash/barrier and tried to get away from their entire team by walking); getting wrecked by nami bubbles when it was crystal clear where the bubbles would hit resulting in dmg loss/kills, failure to respond to what's happening on the map).  Game 2 - nades and dan (dan primarily) were not following up team calls (made mostly by karl).  This resulted in a few of us showing up for engagements while dan/nades were off farming shit. We had multiple instances where very easily preventable situations resulted in dragon/blue losses, etc.  Was not a good night for the ranked team.  Vid on the stream will pretty EASILY back up my criticism at any rate. 

Calling out folks aside - there is an INCREDIBLY simple method of communication that I have mastered, but does piss people off as well.  In our team games, I agree and help whoever is the shot caller.  Outside of those team games, I tell whoever made a call WHY I'm not going to show for the "shot called" if I disagree.  EG I'm not going to dragon because there are 3 waves stacked or w/e.  The point is, I communicate immediately why I won't help.  Failure to say the simplest of things results in multiple folks going to an objective while someone dicks around somewhere.  Huge waste of time and likely loss of objective and multiple deaths.  That was game 2. 

Bad play happens (nobody is perfect), but folks that refuse to accept that there is a shot caller need to be addressed.  Honestly, I think its risky to play with 1 guy that won't listen to calls on the team, let alone 2.  Anyone that wants to play on a serious team needs to understand that silently refusing to go on a team call fucks the team.  It's you folks team (I'm just doing what I said I would - fill, keep my mouth shut outside of useful intel, and follow calls).  Fix it or lose more unless we face pieces of shit. 

 

Here's the vid from tonight - its unedited.  If I do another vid, it will be commentary on these 2 games.

http://www.twitch.tv/1pacov1/b/464036744

 

on Sep 22, 2013

I am not sure what our problem was last night but we did play against some pretty strong players. I think everyone (including myself) was not playing up to the level of play that they usually achieve. I was very sloppy and not sharp with watching the mini-map and positioning (getting tripled ulted multiple times in a row). I am sure everyone could look back at these games from an individual stand point and say, hey that wasn't my best game: what did I do wrong and how can I fix this. Team communication was fairly poor and the only thing I can see from these games that was different from other ones is we were not playing with hedgie/thunder and usually one or the other is around when we play. Maybe we play better when they around.

on Sep 22, 2013

both zen and rawrrr are fighting to get to plat atm.  Both are gold 1.  Zen said this is his 5th attempt to hit plat. 

on Sep 22, 2013

I only watched a few minutes of your guys first game cause Twitch TV replays are super shitty on my work connection even when YouTube can stream World's without a hitch.

You guys went up against 5 Diamond players your first game and decided not to follow extremely basic Blue invasion defense protocol when you had a Mummy jungler. All the sadness that happened afterward could probably be traced back to no one watching the center river invasion route, and I feel any recriminations on Nades could have waited until the game was over.  He probably could have blown his summoners just so he could die immediately in lane like Pacov did, but in the end he gave up first blood while following the very silly suggestion to "go sit in the blue bush" when y'all knew a full on invade was on it's way.

This is not a serious team.  It would be fun if it was, but it's not.  From my experience so far, we either face scrubs who are easy wins or serious teams.  The serious teams have practice schedules and large champion pools for their dedicated roles and are adaptable in how they play depending on who they face.  That isn't the case with us.  Pacov can play Janna or Cait at a high level, while Sona and Corki are the only champs I'm comfortable playing against a good team.  Cow only plays AOE farm champs... or he uses Gangplank.  DanKnee plays assassins and builds them glass cannon every time, whether he's jungling or topping for us.  Hedgie and Karl have some options, but our team comps choices will always be limited.

As far as cohesiveness goes, we are a Coalition Of The Available so the roles are never going to be completely specialized or set.  You guys played two games with the exact same personnel but scrapped your first game plan and switched roles after losing to an all Diamond team.  That's something that should have been ironed out in all the Normals and Scrims we haven't been playing.

We're friends who like to play with each other in these higher level competitive team games when we're all in relaxed, easygoing moods.  That's what the team is about I think, because I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this is not a fast and easy trip to Ranked 5's Plat status?  It's frustrating that people aren't eager to follow the Shotcaller sometimes, but can you really blame them when they were ordered into a Rape Bush the game before then given shit about giving up first blood?

tl;dr Why so serious?

on Sep 22, 2013

Shit, I think that most of the time I come in here.

 

I got two not completely throw teams in a row yesterday and I was so happy I had to stop playing just in case the streak broke before the night was over.

 

Some people in this thread worry me, I start thinking maybe they'd go to the great beyond over the teams I get 3/4 times I play.

on Sep 22, 2013

Thundercles
tl;dr Why so serious?

super annoying to play support and have our chances blown over dumb things. 

psychoak
Shit, I think that most of the time I come in here.

people find drama entertaining from time to time. Other times, not so much.

Those responses might sound negative, but just sayin. 

on Sep 22, 2013

Thundercles
You guys went up against 5 Diamond players your first game and decided not to follow extremely basic Blue invasion defense protocol when you had a Mummy jungler. All the sadness that happened afterward could probably be traced back to no one watching the center river invasion route, and I feel any recriminations on Nades could have waited until the game was over.  He probably could have blown his summoners just so he could die immediately in lane like Pacov did, but in the end he gave up first blood while following the very silly suggestion to "go sit in the blue bush" when y'all knew a full on invade was on it's way.

Well, I wanted him in that bush right away when we saw them at river.  This allows us to see if they continue the invade.  The problem is that if we don't get any wards down there, we don't know if they continue the invade or not since it is pretty common for them to abort if they get spotted early.  If you can get to that bush immediately, you can see them coming and safely leave, which gives me information about whether or not they are continuing the invade, which lets me know whether or not I should go to their blue.  Otherwise plays at their blue become very difficult for me if I have no clue what anybody on their team is doing.

But anyway, just throw a ward on blue with an Amumu jungle.  If you run to river, they can get there at the same time as you (which is what happened), which makes a messy situation since we then don't have a ward on blue.  If you go right to blue, you can beat them to it, and nothing bad can happen since we will always know what play they will try and make.

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